Pyramid Pro Pan.....Anyone else using this great pan????

[craftime78]

Just wondering if anyone else is using a Pyramid Pro Pan from fossickers.com? I have used one for this past season and have been having great success. It took me a while to refine my technique but I would be willing to share my "secrets" with those that are having problems. I spend every weekend out with it in Western Wisconsin and have found lots of gold specks (including a couple of small pickers), garnets, quartz crystals, diamonds, and lots of other unique rock formations. I'm calling it quits for the season (my wife doesn't believe that yet) and hope to spend the long winter months going through several buckets of material that I wasn't able to give the close inspection they deserve. I will also be researching and experimenting on other techniques to make next year even better. Oh, and my best find was a 1/4 carat rhomboid dodecahedron diamond of exceptional clarity and quality that I plan on having mounted in a necklace setting for a one-of-a-kind Christmas gift for my wife. It was a tough choice between selling it for big $$$$$$ or spending a little $$$$ to finally get a little "acceptance" from my wife on my "crazy weekly obsession" that ONLY lasted 7 months this year. I know, some people call it a bribe. But, hey, whatever works. Besides, maybe there's a pair of earrings waiting in some of my concentrates yet. Anyway, hope to hear from some of you great TH'ers. Also, I will try to post a couple of pictures of before and after when I get one of my webcams to work on this computer.

Mark

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Treasure of Victoria Peak - Grab it through Amazon!

[landman]

Any further comments on this pan and especially vs. Gold Hog pan?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[Shankersbend]

From the shape of the crystal, I don't think that's a diamond.

 

[bcfromfl]

Any further comments on this pan and especially vs. Gold Hog pan?

I don't think the PPP and Gold Hog pan are necessarily comparable. They both do different things, and how you choose has to do with what your individual conditions are like where it will be used.

The Gold Hog pan is mostly for sampling large quantities of material, especially with cobbles, but does not "finish" the material. It only works down to grizzlied concentrates, that must be worked down further with your device of choice. It would be a great choice if you have a pile of dirt, or buckets lined up, that you need to reduce.

The PPP takes the same grade of material you'd put in a conventional pan, but the main advantage of the design is that it allows you to continue as long as you like with pan after pan without cleanup. I've watched the videos of the PPP, but have never seen a test with fine gold -- the only test I've seen is the one Fossicker does with pickers. It would be very easy to get sloppy with the technique using the PPP, and wash fine gold off the sides as you're working it down. (To be fair, this technique problem exists with other pan designs, too.)

I think the Gold Hog pan works best when you have lots of water to work with, as that speeds the washing action, and allows you to dump and refill quickly. The PPP doesn't require perhaps as much water, but since its main function is to concentrate and hold a test sample of multiple pans, must be used with a technique such that fines won't be carelessly washed out (especially when the pan is full). It's easy to catch big pieces of gold, but the best use of the PPP is to sample. And when sampling, you want to see an accurate representation of fines.

Neither pan is a replacement for a standard gold pan. If you have access to running water, I think you'd be better off setting up a sluice instead of the PPP, since that's essentially what it is doing for you. (It's more convenient to pop the plug out of the PPP to clean up, but you could process much more material, much more easily, with a sluice.) If the water isn't good for sluicing, then that perhaps narrows your choices.

My two cents...

 

[The Fossicker]

I’m The Fossicker and the inventor of the Pyramid Pro Pan. First let me say that it has been sometime since I’ve posted to any Forum so I’m rather rusty at this and hope you can bear with me to put the record straight. First let me say “Thank You” to all my fans and PPP users all over the world who regularly use and endorse its performance. Lately though, I have found a lot of misconception about the PPP on various Mining Forums so I hope to correct this.

To start, let me say that the PPP is at this time, the only true production pan on the market. Others have attempted to make this claim, but fall short of achieving it. One example of this is trying to compare PPP to the Gold Hog Pan. Let me make this very clear — outside of the general shape of these pans there is absolutely no mutual comparison what so ever. The Gold Hog pan is at best an expensive “classifier” that can only handle certain types of materials that are easily washed from gravels or cobbles. The PPP can handle just about any type of material (except heavy black sands of 30% and up,) which will clog the trap and make the efficiency drop off. The reason it can handle most materials is because of the stainless-steel riffles built within the pan that scrub your rocks and materials. Contrary to popular belief, these riffles have nothing to do with keeping the gold trapped in the pan, as they are only there to scrub material. One of the other misconceptions I find is that the PPP can only hold large gold, pickers, and nuggets. In controlled tests with folks that have never used a gold pan in their lives the PPP recovered all nuggets and pickers, all the regular gold sizes and 85% to 95% of the fines 30 to 150 mesh! These results can be had by following the use of the PPP correctly. Most complaints I have had about this has come from misuse of the technique of operation.

Another misconception I encounter is that the PPP will only handle classified material. This is entirely false. If by chance you forgot your classifier or just don’t want to do it, don’t worry. The PPP will do it for you and do it well. It is all in the technique which is quite easily done. The reason I recommend classifying is that your results will be better in gold recovery. This holds true regardless of what kind of equipment you are using. Another misconception of the PPP is that you can only sample with it. If this was true, it wouldn’t be called a production Pan. With the PPP, you can fill it and empty it to the “premix chamber as many times as you wish until it becomes apparent that you have lots of gold at the bottom. At that time, you pull the plug on the trap and finish it down to pure gold with your finishing pan. Try to do that with a Gold Hog Pan! Lastly, the PPP only weighs 2 pounds. Costs under $100 and is guaranteed for life. If you can beat all of this and what I have stated, please bring it on as I’m ready to stand up to my claims. Any takers? Cheers.

 

[newbAu]

I was skeptical when I found this Pan, but it works, better than I thought. The PPP catches -100/200 mesh gold, more than a sluice. I was amazed at what it captured. It runs through material fast and keeps all the heavy's. You can fill it over and over again without loosing anything. It can keep up with a sluice box once you get good with it. I don't even bring my sluices to the creek anymore, they stay in the trunk. Just the Pyramid Pan and a shovel.

 

[russau]

Don't set it down, hang it

View attachment 1162427

Heres another knotty site to view knots of all flavors Animated Knots by Grog | How to Tie Knots | Fishing, Boating, Climbing, Scouting, Search and Rescue, Household, Decorative, Rope Care, this site will keep you busy!

 

[Skunked68w]

How cool! you talk about a pan and the inventor signs up and responds. I agree the gold hog pan and PPP are similar but not enough to compare the two. I've seen both in action on clear creek in Colorado and they both work as claimed. My only issue is they are not 5-20 times faster than my super sluice pan and therefore are not worth the 5-20 times price tag.

 

[KevinInColorado]

How cool! you talk about a pan and the inventor signs up and responds. I agree the gold hog pan and PPP are similar but not enough to compare the two. I've seen both in action on clear creek in Colorado and they both work as claimed. My only issue is they are not 5-20 times faster than my super sluice pan and therefore are not worth the 5-20 times price tag.

The Super Sluice is an awesome pan